JAKARTA - President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) explained a number of problems faced, which forced his government to try to tighten the state budget in order to maintain price stability while attending the Gathering of Jokowi's Team of Seven Volunteers at Ecovention, Ancol, Jakarta.
"In the first two years, COVID has wiped out our budget, almost Rp. 1,400 trillion has been lost, other countries have also budgeted a huge amount of money," said Jokowi when delivering his remarks in front of volunteers, Saturday, June 11.
When the COVID-19 pandemic situation had relatively eased, the government's efforts to restore the economy were faced with a second storm with the Russian military invasion of Ukraine, which practically created the next uncertainty.
These two things, Jokowi said, have led to price spikes that his government must painstakingly control.
Jokowi gave an example of how the government keeps the price of Pertalite fuel at IDR 7,650 per liter and Pertamax at IDR 12,500 per liter.
He compared it with the price of fuel in the United States which has reached Rp. 19,400 per liter and Singapore which sells for Rp. 33,000 per liter.
"Imagine if Pertalite becomes Rp. 33,000. Surely all the demos are correct or not? Therefore, with all our might we maintain this price. But remember the price that must be paid by the state budget is very large," he said.
Jokowi also mentioned the price of rice in Indonesia, which on average is still in the range of Rp. 10,000 per kg and compared it with the price in the US which has reached Rp. 52,000 per kg.
He said comparisons with other countries should be made to find out the real situation.
Jokowi then discussed the price of cooking oil, which had soared due to rising prices abroad.
"But Alhamdulillah, during this week I checked the markets for Rp. 14-16 thousand. Soon, everything is Rp. 14 thousand, yes," he said.
Nevertheless, Jokowi reminded again that the government will continue to tighten the APBN allocation to subsidize various prices in order to maintain stability.
"We are still giving subsidies, but remember that we must also remember that the state budget has its limitations. Now we will continue to push it until the end of the year, somehow, so that what I mentioned earlier does not increase with subsidies," said Jokowi.
In his remarks, Jokowi also invited the volunteers to continue together to maintain stability in order to support the government's efforts to carry out development.
"This is something we must guard together. If the country is unstable, it is shaken up a little, there are demonstrations a little, yes, we will have difficulty building this country," he said.
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